Rock Music Memoirs

From surf music to hot-rod records to the sunny pop of the Beach Boys and the Mamas & the Papas, Hollywood Eden captures the fresh blossom of a young generation who came together in the epic spring of the 1960s to invent the myth of the California Paradise. Central to the story is a group of sun-kissed teens from the University High School class of 1959 - a class that included Jan & Dean, Nancy Sinatra, and future members of the Beach Boys - who came of age in Los Angeles at the dawn of a new golden era when anything seemed possible.

The most compelling figures in the Warner Bros. story are the sagacious Mo Ostin and the unlikely crew of hippies, eccentrics, and enlightened execs who were the first in the music business to read the generational writing on the wall in the mid-1960s. By recruiting outsider artists and allowing them to make the music they wanted, Ostin and his staff transformed an out-of-touch company into the voice of a generation. Along the way, they revolutionized the music industry and, within just a few years, created the most successful record label in the history of the American music industry.

One of America's best-known rock and entertainment journalists describes his journey from his childhood, cooped up in the "rice room" of his family's restaurant in Oakland's Chinatown, where he did chores, to the major role he played as a writer and editor at Rolling Stone. It is a story of teen worship of Elvis, but also of Chinese customs and the tragic murder of his brother, and of the '60s scene in San Francisco, where he found freedom - and his career.

From the Stooges and MC to Grand Funk Railroad and Ted Nugent, to the White Stripes, Eminem, and Kid Rock, and whole casts of other great bands and performers, Detroit has always produced louder, more rumbling, more subversive rock music than any city in the world. In Detroit Rock City, listeners get to hear the stories straight from the participants themselves: the singers, the guitar slingers, the fans, the reporters, the promoters, even the guys who hand-made amps to be louder and crunchier than the competition’s.

The untold story of Mick Mars, the driving force behind Motley Crue as told by his bandmate in their dues-paying era in the Hollywood rock scene of the mid- to late 1970s.  

In this fresh, amusing, and inspirational autobiography, Mark Holden shines the light on the power of reinvention and provides an intriguing account of a variegated life as an award-winning rock musician, international recording artist, film and television sound producer, CEO for cutting-edge technology companies, fashion designer, and serial entrepreneur. 

The 12th Duke of Beaufort, known to his friends as 'Bunter', inherited his Dukedom and Badminton House in 2017, at the age of sixty-five. But he is also a singer and songwriter with the rock group The Listening Device. Now he combines his responsibilities as Duke with his life as a rock performer. In this lively and anecdote-filled memoir, Harry Beaufort takes us behind the scenes of his varied life: from playing poker with politicians, to partying on Ibiza with film stars to people watching with The Queen from a balcony at Windsor Castle.

Jonathan Taplin’s extraordinary journey has put him at the crest of every major cultural wave in the past half century. His is a lifetime marked not only by good timing but by impeccable instincts - from the folk scene of Woodstock, to Hollywood’s rebellious film movement and beyond, Taplin is not just a witness but a lifelong producer, the right-hand man to some of the greatest talents of both pop culture and the underground. The Magic Years is both a rock memoir and a work of cultural criticism from a key player who watched a nation turn from idealism to nihilism.

The idea for Britain’s first female rock band, The Liverbirds, started one evening in 1962, when Mary McGlory, then age 16, saw The Beatles play live at The Cavern Club in Liverpool, the nightclub famously known as the “cradle of British pop music.” Then and there, she decided she was going to be just like them—and be the first girl to do it.

This audiobook profiles the hottest rock 'n roll women, spanning the 1960s to current times - from Janis Joplin, Suzi Quatro and Chrissie Hynde to Courtney Love and Pink. With perceptive biographies and in-depth music critiques, author Alison Stieven-Taylor gives an up-close and personal look at the experiences, adventures, and musical passions of these extraordinary and talented women whose wild vocals and on-stage antics have made them rock 'n roll legends.

The Music And Magic of Led Zeppelin is a comprehensive guide to one of the most influential and iconic rock bands in history. Listeners will gain an in-depth understanding of the birth, evolution, and legacy of the band, as well as the musical genius of its members.

Riff-Raff, Rebels & Rock Gods chronicles the rise of the most exciting generation of British music and musicians the world has ever seen - before or since. In rapid succession came Ska, New Mod, anarcho-punk, Oi, and the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. A firestorm of incendiary music, created and performed by geniuses and madmen. What a time to be a music journalist! At the heart of this rock tsunami was SOUNDS magazine. And at the heart of SOUNDS was your narrator, Garry Bushell.

Glen Colson lived through the golden age of Rock & Roll during the sixties, seventies and eighties, working as PR for many of the best loved acts in rock history. Among them Lindisfarne, Genesis, Pink Floyd, The Nice, Elvis Costello, Dr Feelgood, Ian Dury, Nick Lowe, Graham Parker, and Van der Graaf Generator. As the press officer at two of the UK's most iconic record labels, Stiff and Charisma, Glen worked alongside managers who made the music industry tick. Famously dry of wit, Glen's take on the inside workings of the music business is both informative and never short of laughs.

In Francis Rossi's explosive new memoir, I Talk Too Much, the Status Quo main man reveals for the first time the true-life stories behind the life and times of one of the best-selling rock singers in the world. With over 100 million records sold worldwide in a career that mirrors the evolution of rock music, from the flower power '60s, with hits like 'Pictures of Matchstick Men', through the denim-clad '70s and classic Quo-tastic anthems such as 'Down Down', 'Rocking All over the World' and 'Whatever You Want', through the turbulent '80s, when they famously opened Live Aid....

Dal primo nucleo di quelli che diventeranno i Rolling Stones, all'arrivo di Brian Jones, che ne sarà l'anima per qualche tempo, fino alla costituzione della vera "fabbrica" Jagger/Richards. Questo audioBook è un viaggio avventuroso e a volte impietoso lungo le tappe di una delle carriere più "granitiche" del rock: quella delle Pietre per eccellenza, i Rolling Stones. Un disco dopo l'altro per raccontare l'avventura della band più longeva della musica senza dimenticare qualche aneddoto curioso e, soprattutto, dando il giusto spazio a quello che più conta.

Seis músicos imprescindibles para comprender la compleja evolución de la historia del rock -Bowie, Cohen, Mercury, Cash, Harrison y Zevon-, en la medida que sus influyentes obras evidencian extraordinarias cualidades artísticas, tan originales como contrapuestas.

George B. Miller hat den Rock 'n' Roll dort erlernt, wo der Musikstil in den 1950er-Jahren mit Elvis ankam: in Bremerhaven. Als Sohn eines amerikanischen Soldaten und einer deutschen Mutter kam Miller dort 1947 zur Welt und wurde sogleich in die zweisprachige Welt der GIs mit Jazz, Soul und Rock 'n' Roll hineingezogen. Seine Karriere als Musiker begann schon 1959 als Cellist, 1964 machte er seine ersten Erfahrungen mit einer Rock-'n'-Roll-Band.

"Stell Dir einmal vor, Du gibst eine Party, und das Ganze dauert ein bisschen länger. Nicht bis zum Morgengrauen. Nicht zwei oder drei Tage. Eher vierzig Jahre. So genau weißt Du es nicht mehr. Es ist schließlich eine Party, und da kann es schon mal passieren, dass man den Überblick verliert. Du konntest Dir das leisten, weil es Dein Beruf ist, das Leben zu feiern und Dich dabei gehen zu lassen, denn Du bist ja ein Rockstar..." Die Beatles, die Stones, Bob Dylan, ja gut, aber ein Deutscher, der auf Deutsch rockt - unmöglich. Dann kam Udo und machte alles anders.

La parabola di un uomo che per molti è stato un dio e per tutti un re: Michael Jackson. Dalle origini umili, in una piccola casa di un'America ignorata dalle luci della ribalta, ai palcoscenici di tutto il mondo dove quelle luci erano tutte per lui, il divo, il Re del Pop. Dalle tribolazioni insieme ai famelici fratelli, i Jackson 5, e al padre-padrone, a una carriera fulminante dove i record sono all'ordine del giorno.

PEN/Hemingway Award-winner Bobbie Ann Mason turns her acumen on one of 20th-century America's most mysterious icons, The King himself. This new biography eschews sensational speculation to paint a thoughtfully researched but wholly felt portrait of the man-child, simultaneously naive and shrewd, who metamorphosed into a hero, one of the most popular and least supported characters in American history.